§ Mr. Nottasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, and how much, he expects that the pattern of settlements in the public and private sectors under the £6 pay limit will add to the relative price effect and increase the cost of public expenditure in 1975–76; and whether this effect is greater or less than the average contribution of public sector wage and salary increases to the relative price effect over the last decade.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe £6 pay limit is not expected to have a significant effect on the relative price effect in 1975–76 and the contribution of wages and salaries to the total RPE is expected to be somewhat less than the long-term trend.
§ Mr. Nottasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish an analysis and account of the changes, determinants and methods of forecasting of the relative price effect in the next White Paper on Public Expenditure, in a Press release or in "Economic Trends", if possible before the White Paper is published, on a fuller basis than the article in Statistical News No. 18 and the Treasury handbook on the methodology of the Public Expenditure White Paper.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettNo. Changes in methods of forecasting the relative price effect since the publications mentioned in the question have been covered in the technical notes in "Public Expenditure660W shown for local authorities and public corporations exclude interest on their borrowing from central Government, and those for central Government include interest on borrowing for on-lending to the other sub-sectors.
to 1978–79", Cmnd. 5879—see paragraph 3, page 165—and any subsequent changes will be similarly described as and when they occur.